The South African Wine Initiative

How to Farm with `Bio-logic´

An article recently appeared on news24.com discussing how pioneering viticulturalist Johnathan Grieve uses ducks, wasps and beetles instead of chemical pestisides on his farm Avondale.

He said: "I find that making use of these natural predators works much more effectively, and is a lot cheaper.He has also cut back on fertilisers by planting legumes and cereals as "cover crops" among the vines to provide natural compost and bind nitrogen from the air into the soil. The plants also suppress weeds and keep the soil moist.

Read the article here

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Wine makers need to adapt: What really sells?
Submitted by Darren Audagnotti (not verified) on 2007, April 29 - 4:42am.

I read an article lately in the October, 2006 Economist about international wine trade and what consumers are after. It turns out old French wine, requiring a masters in vinology and a bank account to fit it, is not what “we” youngsters want. Wine shouldn’t be complicated, neither the process in which it’s created. We’ve been making wine for 5000 years, what’s changed? Firstly, a drinkable timeline on the bottle label of a California Pinot is OK and secondly, knowing what to eat with it can really make life easy and fun. As a result, more sales…We all know chemicals are destructive and need to keep up the pressure to preserve our Environment, everyone wins.

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